How Sunlight Can Actually Help Your Skincare Routine

Brighten up.

Every week, we hear about cool new skincare ingredients that banish blemishes, control oil, and help you get glowing. We like to think that we’re pretty familiar with the big ones at this point, like hyaluronic acid and retinol. Then again, sometimes beauty companies have a way of throwing us for a loop, which is exactly what happened when French skincare brand Talika shared their secret ingredient. It’s a word you’ve definitely heard before, but maybe not one you associate with your serums and moisturizers: light.
You’ve heard time and time again that exposure to sunlight will hurt your skin. It’s the reason why an entire category of protective products (hi, SPF!) exists, and we’re certainly not advocating that you ditch the sunblock anytime soon. Instead, consider pairing your go-to SPF with cleansers and creams that harness the energy from light and use it to repair your skin.
Sound a little too crazy to be true? We consulted dermatologist Dr. Jessica Weiser and the Talika team to figure out exactly how the process works.
How can light impact your beauty routine?
Beyond the obvious pluses (AKA, improving your selfies), light has been proven to penetrate the skin and impart beneficial effects. Specifically, we’re talking about LED lights here, which differ from sunlight. “LED is within the visible light spectrum and does not damage the skin,” explains Dr. Weiser. “Sunlight emits ultraviolet radiation, which can accelerate collagen and elastin breakdown, increase pigmentation, increase risk for skin cancer, and accelerate the aging process.”
In recent years, LED lights have become a popular fixture at spas and in makeup artist kits. These beauty tools deliver different energies (seen as colors) to the skin and underlying tissues, often diving deeper than topical ingredients to repair sun damage and promote healing. Blue LED lights, for instance, kill acne-causing bacteria while reducing inflammation. Dr. Weiser taught us that each visible color has a specific property: “Green controls pigmentation and improves uneven skin tone, red stimulates elastin production to promote healing, and amber enhances collagen production to improve skin quality.”
So LEDs are great, but how can sunlight help your skin?
So here’s where it gets a little more complex: Talika’s Photo Beauty Therapy line reacts to both artificial light (like LEDs) and natural light (like sunlight). While sunlight alone isn’t responsible for improving your skin, it helps transform the active ingredients in the line and essentially make them superstar versions of their original selves.
This transformation is one that dermatologists may know as photodynamic therapy. “Medically, we perform a procedure that uses light to activate a specific chemical called aminolevulinic acid,” says Dr. Weiser. “Light causes the chemical to react with oxygen in these cells to yield a product that destroys sun damage.” Talika’s products mimic this concept — although reactions triggered by sunlight may take between a few seconds and a few hours to occur. Dr. Weiser also notes that cosmetic skincare products like these are not FDA-approved to recreate the same effects as medical photodynamic therapy. That’s not to say you should pass on these products, though. “There’s a theoretical benefit for anti-aging,” she says. “The Talika Photo Beauty Therapy products contain an enzyme found in blue microalgae that is activated by light and thought to help repair skin damage caused by ultraviolet. This ingredient warrants further study and attention to determine the precise skin effects.”
Which product is best for you?
If you’re in the US, you have four options available: Gentle Photo Cleanser, Photo-Pure Foaming Cleanser, Photo-Hydra Serum, and Photo-Hydra Night. If you have dry or sensitive skin, go for the Gentle Photo Cleanser. If you’re looking for oil control, try Photo-Pure. The latter contains an active ingredient that taps into light energy to penetrate deeper into the skin, dislodging embedded debris and eliminating excess sebum.
Our favorite product, though, has to be the Photo-Hydra Serum. While Photo-Hydra Night is specifically designed as a deeply moisturizing bedtime treatment, Photo-Hydra can be applied morning or evening. It’s probably best worked into your daytime skincare routine, so the ingredients have plenty of time to react to sunlight. The texture is weightless and super hydrating, thanks to an amino acid called taurine. While taurine occurs naturally in the skin, it tends to keep things surface-level and doesn’t dive deep. To solve this problem, Talika formulated their serum with a molecule closely related to taurine. When exposed to light, it turns into a penetrative version of taurine that keeps your skin ultra-moisturized.
Now that’s what we call a bright idea.